Coming home from WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital

Before discharge from WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital

The most useful thing you can do before discharge is ask the case manager exactly what the first two weeks at home will require, then call us with the date. WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital on North Seventh Street is Franklin County's largest hospital, and WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital on East Main Street serves the southeastern corner of the county; both became part of WellSpan Health when Summit Health joined the system in 2018. Patients who need more therapy before going home sometimes move to the inpatient rehabilitation unit at the Chambersburg hospital first, which gives the family a few more days to plan. Questions worth asking the case manager:

• Which home health services have been ordered (nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy), and which agency will provide them? Federal discharge planning rules require the hospital to give you a list of available home health agencies and to respect your choice.
• Can your parent manage stairs, the bathroom and getting in and out of a car alone, or will someone need to be beside them?
• Which medications are new, changed or stopped, and can the prescriptions be filled before the ride home?
• When and where are the follow-up appointments?
• Has equipment been ordered, such as a walker, shower chair or raised toilet seat, and when will it arrive?

Then call us at (717) 695-2704. We ask about mobility, the layout of the house and which hours family can cover, and we schedule an in-home consultation, usually within one to two business days in the Harrisburg area and a little longer in Franklin County.

The first days home

Whether your parent is coming home after surgery, a fall or an illness, the first days are about getting through ordinary routines with someone beside them. When we know the discharge date early, we work to have a caregiver at the house when your parent arrives from Chambersburg or Waynesboro to help them in from the car, make a simple meal, and give Medication Reminders that follow the discharge sheet. Over the next days that becomes help with bathing and dressing, a steady arm on the way to the bathroom at night, laundry, and a ride and company for the follow-up visit. Many families start with longer daytime shifts or overnight care for the first week or two, then step down to a few mornings a week when they feel ready. Our page on help at home after surgery covers hip, knee and heart surgery recoveries in more detail.

Where Chambersburg and Waynesboro patients go home to

Patients go home across a wide, mostly rural county. Around the borough: Chambersburg and Guilford, Hamilton and Greene townships, with Fayetteville and Scotland out US 30 toward Caledonia. South along I-81 and US 11: Marion, Greencastle and State Line. West: St. Thomas and Fort Loudon on US 30, Mercersburg on PA 16, and the Path Valley villages of Dry Run, Spring Run and Fannettsburg along PA 75. North: Orrstown, Upper Strasburg and Shippensburg, which straddles the Cumberland County line. Waynesboro Hospital patients go home to Waynesboro, Rouzerville, Blue Ridge Summit, Mont Alto and Quincy. Fulton County families also come over Tuscarora Mountain to Chambersburg for surgery and specialist care. In the farther corners, such as Path Valley or Blue Ridge Summit, schedules depend on caregiver availability; longer and recurring shifts are easier to staff than one-hour visits, and we will tell you plainly what we can cover. See our Franklin County page and the community pages for Chambersburg and Waynesboro.

Working alongside the home health agency

Home health and home care do different jobs, and most families leaving the hospital need both for a while. The home health agency the hospital arranges sends nurses and therapists for visits a physician orders, usually an hour or less, a few times a week, and Medicare generally covers those visits for patients who qualify. Our caregivers cover the non-medical hours in between: personal care, meals, light housekeeping, reminders, supervision and company. We do not provide nursing, therapy, wound care or injections. With your permission, the caregiver notes the exercises the therapist leaves and reminds and encourages between visits. Medicare does not pay for ongoing non-medical home care, so our hours are usually paid privately, through long-term care insurance or VA benefits, or through a Pennsylvania program such as OPTIONS, which starts with a call to the Franklin County Area Agency on Aging at (717) 263-2153. Read more in home care vs. home health care.

We are independent of WellSpan Health

It's Your Home Care is an independent home care agency licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. We are not affiliated with WellSpan Health, WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital or WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital. Families choose us on their own, and you are free to tell the case manager you have arranged private help at home. Our caregivers are W-2 employees who complete criminal background checks, ChildLine clearance, TB screening and competency training before they are assigned. When you are ready, request an in-home consultation.